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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24393493">hypothetically</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnilee/pseuds/sunnilee'>sunnilee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>best laid plans [lay them to rest] [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>....though it is threatened ;), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, and no one can convince me to go out in the snow in a short skirt and heels, classic drinking games turned to confession sessions, girl's night in bc it's in the middle of winter, i will do that from the comfort of my own home thank u, rating for alcohol use and language, sylvgrid is mentioned/heavily implied, though no sylvain appearance this time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:15:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,421</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24393493</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnilee/pseuds/sunnilee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As someone who likes plans... hypothetical plans are still plans to Ingrid.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annette Fantine Dominic &amp; Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Dorothea Arnault &amp; Hilda Valentine Goneril, Dorothea Arnault &amp; Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Ingrid Brandl Galatea &amp; Mercedes von Martritz, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>best laid plans [lay them to rest] [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>hypothetically</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hilda taps her chin in mock thought. She exchanges a quick glance with Dorothea and Ingrid feels her stomach drop. After hiding her birthday plans last year and Sylvain finding out anyway, she'd gotten an earful from Dorothea in the months after. So much so, that she agreed to let Dorothea throw her a birthday party in her last year of school in lieu of bar hopping, considering the terrible weather, to appease her friend. A very familiar glint flashed in Dorothea's eyes and Ingrid realized she had no idea what she just signed up for.</p><p>She wasn’t surprised when Dorothea showed up at her apartment with alcohol and trashy movies, declaring a girls’ night in. She wasn’t surprised when Annette and Mercedes, even <em>Hilda, </em>showed up shortly after with more drinks and snacks. Still, there was something about the way Dorothea and Hilda looked at each other that made her wary… and she wasn’t sure what she was expecting.</p><p>But it certainly wasn’t <em>this.</em></p><p>Red cup already at her lips, Hilda says, “Fuck, marry, kill. Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain. Go.”</p><p>Ingrid chokes. “W-what? I can’t do that!”</p><p>Hilda tips the rest of her drink back as Dorothea smiles, wide and wicked. “Ingie, it’s <em>hypothetical</em>! It’s not like it’s going to happen in real life if you say it out loud. Now, answer the question!” Her voice singsongs as she refills Hilda’s cup, eyes crinkling in delight as Ingrid’s blush spreads from her face down her neck.</p><p>Hands sweating, she shakes her head rapidly, despite the movement sending the room spinning. “I-I can’t! They’re my childhood friends! I couldn’t possibly—”</p><p>“All the more reason you <em>can</em>, Ingrid!”</p><p>Ingrid’s jaw drops. “Annette! I thought you were on my side!” She takes in the flush on her ginger friend’s face and decides, <em>maybe she’d already lost Annette to alcohol in the last hour…</em></p><p>“I’m curious too, Ingrid. Those boys would do anything for you.”</p><p>She whips her head over to Mercedes, shock overwhelming her, as the older girl smiles gently and sips at her water. Her voice falters. “Mercedes, you too—?”</p><p>Hilda’s sudden grip on her wrists bring her back into the present. The alcohol in her stomach sloshes uncomfortably as Hilda shakes her a bit. “Ingrid! Answer the question!”</p><p>Dorothea sidles up next to her and hums, “If it’s easier for you, Ingie, we can go first.”</p><p>Floundering, Ingrid watches the other girls nod their heads eagerly, and she wonders <em>exactly</em> how long each of them have thought about this… Without further preamble, Dorothea sits up straight and clears her throat. “If I <em>had </em>to choose… Fuck Felix, marry Dimitri, kill Sylvain. I can’t steal our dear Felix from Annie here, and I know what Sylvain is like… he’s old news. Dimitri is the perfect gentleman. I could tolerate him in the long run.”</p><p>Ingrid can barely process that Dorothea ended up dragging Felix and Annette into this mess and that <em>Sylvain is old news and she would </em>kill<em> him</em>, when Hilda also speaks up, “Hmmm, fuck Dimitri, marry Sylvain, kill Felix. Sorry, Annette… Felix would be the type to make me work. A delicate flower like me? No way! Dimitri’s kinda cute, but he’d probably try and get me to work too. Sylvain would do anything I ask him to, so definitely marry him.”</p><p>Her blurry vision sees Annette nodding amicably in response to Hilda’s statement and Ingrid only just registers her red cup being swapped out for a bottle of water by Mercedes. She absently nods her thanks, far more concentrated on the sudden tightness in her chest as she replays Hilda’s voice in her head, even though she <em>knows</em> Hilda has a thing with Claude. <em>‘Sylvain would do anything I ask him to, so definitely marry him.’</em></p><p>She doesn’t realize how long she went silent, or if anyone else spoke in the time that passed, until she finds several eyes peering into her face. “Ingrid? You feeling okay?”</p><p>Ingrid’s not sure who said it, but she nods anyway. “I’m fine. Thank you.”</p><p>A few more beats of silence pass. Then Dorothea speaks up again, “So, Ingrid? Your answer?”</p><p>Ingrid blanches and a strange look passes over Dorothea’s face and she reaches for her phone. “…Maybe I should call one of them—”</p><p>Her heart rate spikes, and she grabs Dorothea’s arm. “NO! No… I’m okay, just… give me a moment to think.”</p><p>She takes a few steadying breaths. <em>Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain...</em> Her mind unhelpfully reminds her of how warm Sylvain's hand was around hers, when she woke up to his sleeping face on her birthday last year, hair mussed and cheek smushed against his forearm, breaths slow and even while his fingers were still tangled with hers. <em>It's just... hypothetical. It doesn't mean anything. </em>Her face burns as her mouth forms the words, voice barely above a whisper. “S-same as Hilda.”</p><p>Ingrid watches Annette and Mercedes blink, then exchange knowing smiles. She flushes to the roots of her hair and fists her hands in her sweatpants. Too focused on counting the speckles on the carpet, Ingrid misses the look that flies between Hilda and Dorothea, until the two of them crowd her space. “What was that, Ingrid? We couldn’t quite hear you.”</p><p>Her blood pounds in her ears and she gulps again, throat scratchy. “Same as you, Hilda.”</p><p>She sees Hilda feign confusion and Ingrid resigns herself to the words that come next. “Me? What did I say again?”</p><p>Ingrid catches Dorothea’s eyes, the other girl smiling widely back at her. “A little louder for the rest of us, Ingie!”</p><p>She feels her embarrassment peak and with one sharp inhale, her voice bursts out of her, “I <em>said,</em> same as Hilda! <em>Fuck</em> Dimitri, <em>marry</em> Sylvain, and <em>kill</em> Felix! Happy?!”</p><p>Her chest is heaving and the only sound in the apartment is her ragged breathing, as she tries to calm her racing heart down… As if saying the words out loud would summon her childhood friends to this very room and ask her to—“Explain.”</p><p>Dread pools in her stomach as she looks back at Dorothea, her eyes sharp, smile still in place. It was <em>not</em> fair how sober she still was.</p><p>“W-why? I answered the question, didn’t I?”</p><p>Dorothea and Hilda sigh dramatically, and Ingrid can’t help but feel betrayed when she hears Annette and Mercedes laugh at their antics. Hilda leans in closer to her. “<em>Explain</em>, Ingrid. I didn’t know our taste in men were so similar! Do I need to be worried about Claude?”</p><p>The jest is clear in Hilda’s voice, but Ingrid feels her ears burn anyway. “N-no, you don’t—”</p><p>Dorothea leans in from her opposite side, voice sugary. “You’d marry Sylvain, huh?”</p><p>Ingrid feels her hackles rise and she splutters to defend herself. She misses the satisfied smirk on Dorothea’s face. “I—Felix is like a brother to me! I couldn’t… I couldn’t do either of those things with him. And Dimitri, he… he’s way too in love with Byleth, so no I wouldn’t want to marry him—”</p><p>Hilda cuts across her. “But you could <em>marry</em> Sylvain?”</p><p>“Spend the rest of your life with him?” Dorothea tacks on.</p><p>Ingrid’s head is spinning again, and she pinches the bridge of her nose when the two of them chorus, “cleaning up his messes?”</p><p>Roughly setting her bottled water aside, Ingrid reaches for her red cup again and knocks back the remaining alcohol, hoping it would <em>knock her out.</em> To her chagrin, she can still see four pairs of eyes on her and she sighs defeatedly into her cup, muttering, “how is that any different from what I do now…”</p><p>Then she freezes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh no.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Her mind catches up to the words that left her mouth and she hears a round of squeals from the girls around her as they jostle her excitedly. Suddenly, she sways violently in her spot on the floor and she feels Dorothea and Hilda steady her, Mercedes pushing the bottle of water back in her hands as Annette grabs her red cup away from her.</p><p> </p><p>Even as her head is swimming in the fog of alcohol, she still makes out Dorothea’s sly smile and gentle coo. “How is it any different, <em>indeed</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>She suddenly recalls the way Dorothea teased her at the New Year’s party last year and nausea rolls in her stomach. Ingrid promptly decides she is <em>never</em> letting Dorothea throw her a party again… and she needs to <em>properly</em> embarrass Annette with Felix. As payback. Ditto Mercedes with Dedue.</p><p> </p><p><em>Then</em> she blacks out.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>sometimes, ideas are so wild and they won't leave you alone until you write them.</p><p>this is one of them.</p><p>until next week for part 5 🥳</p></blockquote></div></div>
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